Italian legislative elections | Three Montreal candidates divided by immigration

Three Montreal candidates are running in the North and Central America constituency in the Italian legislative elections on Sunday, September 25. If they agree on several points regarding the lack of services for their constituents, the question of the migratory flow in Italy divides them, noted The Press.

Andre Duchesne
The Press

On the eve of a likely victory for the coalition of right-wing and far-right parties in Sunday’s legislative elections in Italy, the thorny issue of the migratory flow is what most divides the three Montreal candidates, who, representing three separate parties, seek the support of voters.

“The extreme right in Italy has formed a coalition of three parties, and that’s not pleasant,” says Vera Rosati, director of the Patronato Inca-Cgil organization in Little Italy and candidate for the Partito democratico, a left-wing party. We see young people in northern Italy who oppose immigrants and express racism. »

A way of seeing things rejected by Tony Zara, candidate of the right-wing coalition led by Giorgia Meloni (Fratelli d’Italia) and owner of the company Accent Impression and the magazine Panoram Italia from Montreal.

“Journalists want to believe that Giorgia Meloni is far right,” he said. She is a woman who loves her country very much, like everyone else. I go to Italy often, I take the pulse of the country, and it is not racist, far from it. I come from a village of 5,000 people, Guglionesi, in the Molise region, and we have 10% diversity in the population. We’ve never seen that before. »

We understand that Italians overseas vote in legislative elections and send representatives to the Chamber of Deputies (Camera dei deputati) and in the Senate. A constituency encompasses North and Central America. A post of senator and two of deputies are at stake.^me Rosati and Mr. Zara are among the 19 candidates, divided into five political parties, vying for the two seats of deputies. A third Montrealer, Antonio Vespa, of the Italian Association Movement Abroad (MAIE), is one of the ten candidates for the position of senator.

“I’m from a workers’ party and we shouldn’t be against immigrants,” said this former electronics teacher. But neither can we accept revolutionaries. »

The current elections are made necessary by the fall of the government of Mario Draghi. Polls indicate that Italians are tempted by the coalition of M^me Meloni. Fratelli d’Italia has formed an alliance with Matteo Salvani’s League and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia. They are predicted to have 45 to 55% of the seats.

Giorgia Meloni, who began her career with the neofascist Italian Social Movement party, is now casting a wider net on her right. But she defines herself as anti-immigration, anti-Islam, opposed to same-sex marriage, etc.

However, since the beginning of the year, 44,000 migrants arriving from the southern shore of the Mediterranean have landed in Italy, which places the country at the forefront of the migratory flow, according to a recent article by the World.

The coalition of M.^me Meloni wants to strictly control immigration. Tony Zara believes that we must stop demonizing her for this reason. “All countries in the world have the right to control their immigration,” he said. Mr. [François] Legault talks about this every day. It’s something absolutely normal. And most of the migrants who land in Italy are passing through. They are trying to get to France, England and Germany. »

Vera Rosati says she is sensitive to the pitfalls facing migrants. “My parents came to Canada after the Second World War and know what the far right is,” she says, referring to Mussolini’s name.

Convergences

Elsewhere, the three candidates agree that if they are elected, they will devote a lot of time to issues that concern their constituents. Improving consulate and embassy services, reducing the tax rate for overseas Italians with properties in Italy and regaining dual citizenship are recurring themes at home.

That said, it is far from certain that one or the other of the three Montreal candidates will be elected. “I had a very short campaign and it will be very difficult to win,” said Mr. Zara. Among the candidates for Camerathere is M^me Fissoli (an American) who is seeking a third term. In addition, she does a lot of solicitation by mail. »

All three, and other members of the community to whom The Press spoke, also believe that the turnout is low.

All ballots for the North and Central America constituency had to be cast by September 22. They were sent to Italy for the count following Sunday’s ballot.